"Rainbow! Wake up! I have a surprise for you!"
I rolled over, trying to stuff my head back in the cloud I was trying to sleep on to escape the noise that was Pinkie Pie. Except that if I ignored it too long, she'd go and find her helicopter. Sighing, I poked my head over the edge of my makeshift bed to stare down at the pony below.
"What do you want Pinkie? I was just getting settled in for a nap."
"I set you up on a blind date!" she shouted at the same volume, despite the fact that we were only fifteen feet apart.
"What?" I shouted, shocked and confused by her answer.
"I said, I set you up on a blind date!"
Dang it, this would involve getting off my cloud wouldn’t it. And then it would float off and I’d have to chase it. I sighed and rolled off of it, flaring my wings and catching the air to glide the distance down to the ground.
"Pinkie, would you mind explaining why you set me up on a blind date?"
"Well yesterday you said that you hadn't dated anypony and were single. You looked kinda sad when you said it, so I found you a date to cheer you up! Well, it technically isn’t an up-and-up blind date, but a blind date party just for mares. I didn’t know how to set up an awesome party with just two ponies, so I invited a bunch of other ponies to the party and they’re all going to pick names out of hats and go and date the pony they picked. It’ll make everypony super-duper happy!"
Why? Nevermind, it’s Pinkie. That’s reason enough. "Pinkie, you didn't have to do that. I would rather have found a date on my own."
She sighed and looked down. "I guess I'll go and mark you off the guest list. But now I have to go and find another single pony and that’s gonna be hard cause I invited every single single mare I know that likes mares and they all said yes. So now I have to go back and look at my massive Ponyville Pony Book and see if I missed anypony."
A Pony Book? I pushed the thought aside till later, knowing I’d probably never get to it because it was, after all, Pinkie. She turned away and started to head back to the center of town. She lacked the usual spring in her step from what I could tell and I knew it was my fault. I sighed and called after her, knowing the only way to fix it. "Pinkie, I never said I wouldn't go to the party.”
Her head snapped up her mane poofed as she turned around and managed to cover the distance between us in a single leap, tackling me to the ground in a hug. "Oh thank you Dashie! The date party is at Sugarcube Corner at 8 o'clock sharp. If you miss it, I know where you live!"
“I’ll see you at 8.”
“Be sure to clean up Dash! You wouldn’t want your date to think that you’re a slob!” Because all of Ponyville doesn’t already know of me. Right.
“Have a nice day Pinkie.” I watched as she bounced off, probably to go finish party preparations. I looked up at the sun, trying to figure how much time I had until eight. It was about two in the afternoon, so I flew back up to the cloud I found and settled back in for my nap. I had a feeling that I would regret my decision to go to the party, but that was a problem for future Dash.
I stood at the entrance to Sugarcube Corner, five minutes early to the party. I could see mares moving around in the half-lit room inside, but a part of me was still a bit hesitant. While I could always chicken out and say I overslept, it wouldn’t be right to leave Pinkie and whoever my date would have been hanging like that. I sighed. Sometimes loyalty isn’t always fun, but it’s always right. Besides, I was Rainbow Dash, I wasn’t scared of anything! But dates were scarier than other things. Everypony’s scared of dates, right? I ran a hoof through my mane, still slightly damp from the longer than usual shower I took and pushed open the door to the bakery.
The room mas about half-full of mares, most of whom were casually talking to one another. There were refreshments to the side and a banner hanging up, but scarcely any other decorations. I looked around the room, shocked to see how many of the ponies there that I knew. I wondered how Pinkie even knew that some of them liked mares; Derpy for instance. I thought that after she had Dinky, she’d go after stallions. I even roomed with her at Flight Camp for Celestia’s sake. But who knows how ponies change? I spied two of my friends talking to one another and went over to them.
“Rarity? AJ? I totally didn’t expect to see both of you here. Didn’t you have a crush on that fancy unicorn in Canterlot Rarity?”
To her credit, she barely blushed when she replied. “Hello Rainbow Dash. As to your question, a lady should keep all options open. Besides, Fancypants is married. Now, would you please tell Applejack that not all the ponies here are just looking for a… romp in the hay, as you put it.” She screwed up her face, looking disgusted at the prospect.
“Applejack, not every mare here is looking for sex. Some want more kinky stuff.” Glancing over at Rarity rolling her eyes, I amended my statement. “Okay, maybe a few want romance. Like, half a percent maybe. I’m only here so that Pinkie wouldn’t get upset.”
“Ah didn’t say everypony, just enough that there’s a comfortable chance Ah can have some fun tonight.”
Rarity harrumphed, clearly put off by the thought. “Well I for one am looking for a nice, romantic dinner tonight. Not the kinds of things you two are suggesting. In any case, I do hope that Pinkie gets started soon. It’s almost eight after all.”
With perfect timing, Pinkie popped up from behind the counter, a microphone in hand and a suspiciously familiar red striped hat on her head. “Come on everypony and step right up to see who will be dating who tonight! It’s a battle of the mares, winner takes all!”
I saw Twilight step out of the kitchen behind her and whisper something into Pinkie’s ear. She took off the hat and laid it on the counter in front of her, slips of paper somehow appearing in it.
“Oops, sorry. That’s tomorrow’s party.” I raised an eyebrow, curious as to the exact nature of tomorrow’s party and why I wasn’t invited. “Here’s how this party is going to work ladies. Several ponies have offered up places to host dates at various places in Ponyville. Each pony is going to walk up here, take a number, and find the pony who also has your number. You are dates for the night! After you pair up, Twilight is gonna teleport you to the place you’re having your date at, which is also on the piece of paper. After your date, if it goes well, you can come back here to celebrate! Make sense to everypony?”
The assembled crowd nodded their heads, some eager for the date to come and others obviously nervous. I’d like to think I was part of the minority that passively acknowledged the facts of the party, but I was probably in the latter category. Just a tiny bit though. I peered around, trying to see who I might get as a date, but gave up. I’d get who I got and there was no point in worrying about it. I patiently waited in line alongside Rarity and Applejack as each pony stepped up to get a number.
It took all of my self-control to not burst out laughing when both Rarity and Applejack drew number 3. The look of sheer shock on Rarity’s face was absolutely priceless. Luckily for me, Pinkie pulled a camera out from somewhere and snapped a picture before Twilight teleported them away, a hoof raised to hide the grin that had broken out on her face. It looked kinda cute, actually.
Stepping up to the hat, I reached in and plucked out a small slip of paper. Stepping to the side and unfolding it, I looked at what it said.
6 - Golden Oaks Observatory
Well I certainly hoped that Spike was hanging out with the Crusaders because I did not want a little dragon watching me go on a date.
“Anyone got number 6?” I called out, looking around at the three or four mares standing off to the side. They shook their heads and I joined them, standing to wait and see who I might get as a date. My nervousness kept growing and growing as Twilight teleported each new pair. Finally, there was one last flash of light and it was just me, Pinkie, and Twilight left standing in Sugarcube Corner.
“Well Pinkie, looks like you miscounted and don’t need me at the party after all. See ya!“ I started to head to the door, only to have Pinkie bounce in my way before I could leave.
“Of course I didn’t miscount, you’re forgetting Twilight!”
The alicorn in question blushed and levitated the final piece of paper out of the hat and unfolded it to show me writing identical to the slip I held.
Oh feathers, I was not ready for this. I didn’t get scared, not in the least, but I definitely had an even larger sense of nervousness about the night. You would too if you ended up going on a blind date with a friend. Now I know how Applejack and Rarity felt.
“Have an awesome date you two!”
I thought that Twilight would have been going through the same mental thoughts that I was, but she was just standing there and looking at me curiously. Typical Twilight, compartamenta-whatever everything and saving it till later. She no doubt had a list planned out for what to do for every pony. The thought of her sitting in the library, full backgrounds on everypony at the party floating around her made me laugh a little inside, relieving a bit of the tension. Maybe the night wouldn’t be so bad after all; it was just spending time with a friend, right? We didn’t have to kiss or anything. But even as that thought crossed through my head, some part of me couldn’t help but feel disappointed. It confused me and I was going to dwell on it a little bit longer when my vision was filled with a pink blur.
“Equestria to Dash! Come in Dash!”
“Gah!” I fell backwards, surprised by the sudden appearance of Pinkie.
“You were just standing there all spaced out and looking weirdly at Twilight. You can do that later, but now I need you to go so I can set up the after-party.” She popped up behind me and shoved me towards the waiting alicorn, my hooves dragging across the floor. As Pinkie shoved me into her, she lit her horn and Sugarcube Corner disappeared.
One giant—and blinding—flash of light later, we stood on top of the Golden Oaks Library. I staggered to the side and broke away from the grip of Twilight, my stomach doing flips like I had just done a quadruple corkscrew. I rubbed my eyes, trying to clear the spots that appeared. “Warn me next time we teleport so I can get ready, m’kay?”
I saw Twilight’s horn light up again and my vision cleared instantly. I could now see that before us was a neatly set table covered with a white tablecloth, plates and silverware set for two and food kept warm under serving platters that dimly glowed with magical heat. The observatory was open to the elements, letting us look out over the town if we wished. It was also open to the stars, naturally, allowing the light of the full moon to shine down on us. It was a wonderful night, but I chose to ignore that view and instead turned to the pony next to me.
“Sorry about the teleport thing, I know you don’t like them.”
I gave her a deadpan look. “That’s an understatement.” And then my eyes fell on the table again, bringing back the nervousness I had about dating a friend like Twilight. Yeah, you were supposed to be friends with the mare before you started dating her usually but this was Twilight. I didn’t even know she was interested in mares, let alone dating and now she ends up with me. I’d take Applejack over dating Twilight just to spare the tension. Though, taking a moment to look at Twilight again, I thought that she was much better looking than the farmpony.
Twilight must have sensed my feelings, as she tried to ease my unease. “You’re feeling weird that it’s me you’re dating, aren’t you?” I nodded slowly, not sure where she was going with it. “Well in that case, just pretend that you’re visiting a new town and got set up as a blind date with the librarian.”
I scrunched up my face, trying to figure out if that would work. “But aren’t librarians usually old and wrinkly? Talk about ew.”
We shared a laugh and I felt a little bit more comfortable with the situation. We were just going to spend a few hours together having a nice dinner together as friends. We didn’t need to get into the sappy romance stuff. It was just one night and it probably wasn’t going to go anywhere special.
“Nah, that’s okay. I think it was just the initial shock that you of all ponies was going to be my date tonight.”
“Me of all ponies?” She raised an eyebrow, her smile getting a tiny bit smaller.
“Yeah. I didn’t even know you were into dating, let alone mares. I figured that you were the kind of pony to do things the traditional way, by the book.” And down went the eyebrow, thankfully.
“Cadence always told me that love wasn’t a thing to do by the book.” Oh yeah, I should have figured she would have taught Twilight something.
“Yeah, she pretty much hit the mark on that one as near as I figure.”
When Twilight didn’t respond, I tilted my head curiously, She seemed to be staring at something intently. I tried to follow her gaze, but the only thing she would have been staring at was… oh.
I decided to return the favor, taking a closer look at her appearance as well. Now that I thought about it, Twilight was a rather cute mare. She may have grown a bit taller than me since becoming an alicorn, forcing me to look up slightly to see her face, but it looked so natural now that I had a hard time remembering her as short. The way her bangs hung down over her forehead and cut off precisely before reaching her eyes gave her a nerdy look, but it was one that definitely fit her. Oh did it fit her so well. I looked into her eyes, two pools of lavender that reflected myself back to me in an oddly, but deeply, personal way. Even her mouth, held in a small smile as looked at me (still lost in thought) just looked so right. An image of the two of us kissing flashed into my head, not unwelcome, but chased out before I could dwell on the prospect. Even after I had relooked at her, she was still staring at me. I walked over to her, causing her to go slightly cross-eyed. I reached up a hoof and, not able to resist, bopped her on the nose.
“Boop!” Her eyes focused on her nose for a second before she processed what happened.
“Oh! Sorry about that, I just zoned out for a minute.” She blushed, rubbing a hoof behind her head in embarrassment.
“No worries, I know exactly what you were looking at.” I winked at her, some untold instinct causing me to do so. The blush on her cheek only got worse and I turned away to give her a moment to calm down.
“Care to dine?” Her voice had regained its confidence and normal pitch, not the squeak I might have expected. Some part of me knew that I was teasing her, but it was battling with another part that called it totally unintentional.
“I’m not too hungry right now. Besides, my stomach hasn’t settled all that well after the teleport.”
While that was slightly true, I said it mostly to avoid putting food in my nervous stomach. Our friendly banter had made me feel more at ease, but the way she had just been looking at me brought back a bit of my nerves. I hadn’t been on a date before, but I was reasonably certain that throwing up on your date was frowned upon. She looked a little disappointed at my response, so I offered an alternative. “Perhaps we could use this observatory for what it is actually meant to be used for?”
As I suspected, she perked right back up. “Oh, sure! I was planning on doing that later, but now is fine. I set them up already facing the North Star and figured that we could just go from there.”
“Sure.” Stargazing, especially through a telescope, might not have been my favorite thing to do, but it sure made Twilight happy.
I took up my place at the smaller telescope. Twilight chatted constantly, obviously at ease just going on and on about astro-this and astro-that as she looked through her telescope. I listened to her talk, words flowing in one ear and straight out the other. Learning to tune out Twilight when she was on an academic rant wasn’t too hard to learn and it was undoubtedly useful. When I was sure she wasn’t looking, I turned my smaller telescope towards Ponyville, curious as to how some of the other couples were doing.
I was searching aimlessly, not knowing where anypony was. I managed to see Derpy and Carrot Top having dinner outside of a café, but nothing to interesting was going on there. I swung the telescope around to farther out of town, a bit of orange and white catching my attention. Rarity and Applejack were having a picnic not too far from Fluttershy’s cottage. I tweaked the zoom on the telescope, my hoof brushing up against Twilight as I did so. While I had no idea what transpired since I saw them, Rarity was wearing a certain brown cowpony hat while Applejack’s head was bare. I wasn’t quite sure what that meant, but I was prevented from seeing any more by a hoof tapping on my shoulder. Feeling like a filly caught stealing candy, I backed away from the telescope.
“And what is more interesting than listening to me rant about stars?” I laughed openly at that, it being hard to not laugh at the way she said it. She apparently thought the same, as I could see her trying to hide a smile as well.
“Take a look,” I grinned. Even in the middle of a date that didn’t seem to be quite a date, I couldn’t resist a prank.
“What couple is i- SWEET CELESTIA THEY’RE KISSING!” Her voice echoed over the rooftops, most likely disturbing more than a few ponies. I bet every couple that heard that awkwardly broke lips. Oops.
“What?” I shoved Twilight aside, peering through the telescope at them. Sure enough, Rarity and Applejack had locked lips, unperturbed by the shout Twilight had just loosed.
“Well that’ll take some explaining to do tomorrow,” I laughed.
Beside me Twilight started blushing furiously and rubbed her hoof against the wooden floor, her demeanour changing from smiling friend back to nervous date. “Um, maybe you and I could do something like that?”
And that was the sound of my brain failing to work. I didn’t even turn to look at Twilight, I just stared off into space. Twilight wanted to kiss me? What? Yeah we were technically on a date, but plenty of dates didn’t end in kissing, right? This didn’t even seem like a date! Pinkie even basically said that she didn’t expect everypony’s date to work out. But as much right as I had to refuse, fly away, and pretend it never happened, part of me stayed standing there, the same part that had been looking over Twilight earlier and the same part that enjoyed all the attention and affection I was receiving.
But even then, if part of me was okay with it, did I want it? I asked myself the question, plain and simple. Plain and simple always worked because the answer was always plain and simple. Even for a matter of love like this. And the answer my body, heart, and mind gave me was the same.
Yes, I wanted Twilight Sparkle to kiss me and I wanted to kiss her back. And right now, I wanted it more than anything in the whole wide world.
“Forget it, just pretend like I never asked. It was a stupid question anyways.”
Her voice snapped me out of the daze that I was in. She turned away, tears threatening to spill over her eyelids and come flowing in full force. There was no way on Equestria or Tartarus that was going to happen. I walked over to her, cupping her face with one hoof and turning it back towards me. “Aren’t you the one who always said that there are no stupid questions, just stupid answers?”
“Well, yes, but— mmph!” I interrupted her teary response before she could say another word. She tried to let out a gasp of surprise as our lips met, but it was smothered by the contact.
It was a gentle kiss, a sweet kiss. It didn’t go any further than the lips, but no amount of passion was lost from it. It was a display of affection, a signal from me to her saying yes to her unspoken questions. It may have been a simple connection, yet even a simple connection sent shivers down my spine; the sensation tingled and made me feel… happy. Utterly and ridiculously happy. I wanted to laugh with happiness and joy, but that would have meant breaking the kiss. It was a kind of happiness that I hadn’t felt with anypony since my parents left me out in the street. It was, as near as I could figure, love. My brain shut up, lost in the moment and all parts agreeing that this was the right thing to be doing.
I pulled away from Twilight, looking into her eyes. I could see the sparkle in them return as her mind finally comprehended what happened.
“You kissed me.” She whispered it, partially unbelieving and partially in awe. I tend to do that to ponies.
“Sure did. And let me tell you, it was awesome. Almost as awesome as me.” I paused, remembering the sensation. “Scratch that, it was actually more awesome than me. A tiny bit.” She laughed again, a laugh that sounded ten times better now than it did before the kiss. Love made everything better it seemed. Heck, she looked way more than 20% more beautiful after that kiss awakened my feelings.
“Never change Rainbow. I knew there was a reason I made sure to get you.”
“Wait, what?” Oh Twilight, way to break the mood.
She giggled again, bringing a smile to my face with just a sound. “I used magic to make sure that the two of us ended up together here.” She blushed and looked down at the ground, eyes dropping from my gaze. “I’ve always thought of you as a little bit more than a friend, but I knew you didn’t feel the same way. When Pinkie wanted to set you up on a blind date, I convinced her to turn it into a full-on party and make others happy too.”
“Twilight Sparkle is wrong. Somepony send a letter to the newsponies.” I laughed, though Twilight just gave me a funny look.
“What was I wrong about?” Sweet Celestia, even when she was confused she was cute. How did I not notice this before?
“You said I didn’t feel the same way. I obviously wouldn’t have kissed you just now if I didn’t figure out that I have feelings for you.” Her mouth stretched open in a small O, a smile tugging at its edges. “Geez Twi, you can be so clueless sometimes.”
“So, this whole blind date thing actually worked out?”
I resisted the urge to facehoof. “Seeing as how I just kissed you, I’d say it did.”
“Yay!” She gave a little happy bounce and levitated out a sheet of parchment and a quill, writing something down. I gave up and finally facehoofed, making an audible smack against my forehead. Twilight looked up from her writing and grinned sheepishly. “Sorry, I was just looking at what we do next.”
Okay, I’ll play along. I was tempted to sidle up next to her and read what she was writing, but dismissed the idea. “So what does your all-important scroll say we do next?”
“Well, since the dinner didn’t work out too well,” she tossed a glance over to where the table was still set up, barely disturbed at all, and continued, “I’d say we can deviate a little bit. By this point, we were supposed to be sharing that romantic kiss over the table followed by stargazing and, if everything went well, a uh—” she leaned in, her semi-confident demeanor wilting into nervousness, "make-out session."
I raised an eyebrow curiously. Her face was blushing hard enough that I was surprised she didn’t just turn red all over. It might have been moving fast for some ponies, but fast was how I liked things. Taking things slow was way too boring. Besides, I had waited years for somepony like this. Somepony who chased after me first.
“No sense in deviating from the list any more, right? We already did the stargazing, so…”
She opened her mouth to say something. I don’t know what it was going to be, as I stopped her with a kiss. A more personal kiss. It continued for a few seconds longer, but Twilight apparently forgot to breathe and broke away with a gasp.
“Rainbow!” She looked like she wanted to chide me, but I knew it was just a ruse. But she looked cute when she was angry as I now discovered, so I didn’t mind all that much.
“Don’t tell me you didn’t like it Twi. I could see your blush even if it was pitch black out here. Ready for round 2?” I teased.
She seemed to consider it for a moment, then I saw a gleam appear in her eyes before she sprang forward and tackled me to the ground, instigating the kiss and locking her lips with mine, her tongue starting to force its way into my mouth.
Yeah, I’d say that the date was a success.